Both the decor and service were nice enough for a fast food restaurant, after ordering from the counter, we sat down waiting with a buzzer in hand.

3 Wings and 1 Leg (Mixed) Meal – $16.00

Wanting to try out the classics, I opted for the 3 Wings and 1 Leg option, adding $6 to make it a meal with a side of sweet potato fries and a can of sprite. The chicken were indeed, very crispy. Benefiting from a dry batter, the texture remained even with the addition of the soy garlic and hot sauce. The hot sauce was actually pretty spicy, and the soy garlic had that addictive balance of salty and sweet.

3 Wings and 1 Leg (Mixed) Meal – $16.00

The side of sweet potato fries fared well too. 4 Fingers has clearly mastered the use of the deep fryer, and these fries were light and crunchy, with a fluffy interior.

Fried chicken by itself may not be all that exciting, hence why 4 Fingers has ventured out into a range of burgers and rice boxes for variety. My overall experience at 4 Fingers was quite pleasant, and I would be keen to return for a quick meal and try out some of the other food on offer.

How to get here:4 Fingers is located on Bourke Street, seven minutes walk away from Parliament station.

This is such an overdue post, but better late than never right? I spent four days in Singapore back in the end of January, it was my first time at a completely solo trip, and I am so glad that I went! Although four days isn’t a long time, it was enough for me to fall in love with the vibrant city.

The multi-faceted culture, the friendliness of its people, the humid weather, the beautiful sceneries, the all-so-famous Orchard Road (where all my money went), and most importantly, the food, oh the food, I could literally go on for days.

I managed to hit up five hawker centres, and ticked off almost everything on the list that my friend (ily Coco) gave me. Not a bad effort I reckon, considering the difficulty to order for one person at times.

So, without further ado, here is the compilation of my four days of food-ventures in Singapore! I’ll try give a short review and details of the restaurant if I remember, if not then… I’M SORRY PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME LOL 😦

Nameless Restaurant #1

My first meal in Singapore! Congee with stewed beancurd and pork belly. I can’t remember the name of this restaurant but it was right across the street from the hostel I stayed at, The Hive Hostel (convenient location, excellent service, would recommend).

YES, SO MUCH YES. I cannot wait for Tim Ho Wan to open in Melbourne, legit so excited!

Vermicelli Roll stuffed with Pig’s Liver

Literally cannot find this on any menu?!

Steamed Egg Cake

Super fluffy and light!

Mango Sago Pomelo

Nameless Restaurant #2

Left: Salt Baked ChickenRight: Iced Milo

This was again, opposite my hostel. I went here for dinner and the chicken was really nice and moist, and the rice was nice and fluffy! The iced milo was a must, since the humidity is so real in Singapore at all hours of the day.

Food Strip near Chinatown

Oyster Omelette

Maxwell Road Hawker Centre1 Kadayanallur StSingapore 069184

Left: Sugar Cane JuiceRight: Hainanese Chicken Rice from Tian Tian

Said to be the best Hainese Chicken Rice in Singapore, of course I had to try it for myself. It was indeed, amazeballz. Seriously, the chicken was tender and flavoursome, but what really made it stand out for me was the rice. The intensity of the chicken stock flavour was insane, I could seriously eat bowls of the rice on its own.

Oh yeh, $1.50 sugar cane juice, what’s not to love?

Ice-cream cart on Orchard Road #1

Durian Ice-cream Sandwich

Surprisingly, I didn’t see a lot of ice-cream carts around Singapore, so when I did spot one on Orchard I jumped at the chance. Such a novelty, but was also great for cooling me down!

After a stroll in Tiong Bahru (Books Actually is hands down the cutest book store I’ve ever been to!), I walked in 40 Hands for an afternoon treat. Although no truffle can be seen on the fries, the smell was super strong, and the fries were crispy, with a succinct truffle flavour! The iced mocha was less memorable, but still a necessity considering the weather haha.

You can’t say you’ve been to Singapore until you’ve had chilli crab, or so I’ve been told. I thought it would be an impossible task for me though, since there was no way that I could finish an entire mud crab on my own. But luckily, after watching the light and water show at Marina Bay Sands, I stumbled upon Makansutra Glutton’s Bay, and there was a stall that served single portion chilli crab! It was sweet and spicy, and definitely left me craving for chilli crab from time to time since I’ve been back.

Food Court in Ion (?)

Hokkien Mee

Dunkin’ Donuts

Peanut Donut (?)

Got this because I always see Dunkin’ Donuts in American Vloggers’ videos, but it was pretty average I gotta say.

Lau Pa Sat is famous for their satay, so that’s what I went there for! I got the combo that came with chicken, beef, and prawn satay sticks. The chicken was very tender, beef was slightly on the drier end of things, but the prawns were my favourite! I wish we had satay prawns here in Melbourne.

Chin Mee Chin was highly recommended to me by one of my Singaporean friends (thanks Kim!) for being one of the last few remaining old school kopitiams in Singapore. So before I ventured out to Sentosa on my third day, I headed off here for some good ol’ Singaporean brunch.

Seriously, I need more kaya in my life, it’s essentially a coconut egg jam, but the taste is super unique and I loved it from the first bite! Although kaya jam was also offered in my hostel, it was nothing compared to this. I have tried to recreate soft boiled eggs sooooooo many times since I came back, because I bought a tub of kaya from Chin Mee Chin and really wanted some soft boiled eggs to go with the toast, but I’ve failed every time 😦

Service was probably the only downside of Chin Mee Chin, the toast was served 10 minutes after the eggs, tbh I think the lady just forgot about my order.

I saw a Din Tai Fung after I came out of S.E.A Aquarium in Sentosa, and decided to finally pay it a visit. It was my first time at Din Tai Fung, and I’m so glad I went! The restaurant was pretty much empty at around 3pm, compared to the hour long waits at the Melbourne one – I know which one’s my pick haha. The signature XLBs were delicious, the skin was thin and translucent, and there was plenty of soup to be slurped up.

Steamed Truffle and Pork Dumplings

I also tried the truffle and pork dumplings ’cause, well, truffle, need I say more?

Steamed Truffle and Pork Dumplings

The truffle can be seen and tasted, and adds quite a strong taste to the dumplings.

Steamed Chilli Crab and Pork Buns

And well, when in Singapore, order anything related to chilli crab right? The skin of the bun was light and fluffy, and the folds replicated the folds in the XLB.

Steamed Chilli Crab and Pork Buns

There was plenty of crab meat in the filling, giving the bun a seafood-y crustacean-y taste.

Chomp Chomp Food Centre is often said to be the best hawker centre in Singapore, I don’t know if it’s deserving of that title, since everything I ate in Singapore was above par, but it definitely left an impression! I started off with some fried carrot cake, and this was what caused me to seek out Bert’s Cafe.

BBQ Stingray with Sambal

This was probably one of my favourite dishes in Singapore! I’ve never had stingray before, and this exceeded my expectations by far! The meat was perfectly cooked, and there was ample amount of sambal on top to make the fish super tasty.

Clockwise: Sugarcane Juice, Gong Gong, Chicken Wings

I moved seats so people wouldn’t judge me for eating more HAHAHA. More sugarcane juice ’cause that’s pretty much a requirement. The gong gongs were recommended to me by Kim again, but I wasn’t a fan of these! They tasted kind of funky, but not in a good way. The dollar chicken wings are also quite famous, and they had a sweet glazing, and were fun to nibble on!

Tekka Centre665 Buffalo Rd210665 Singapore

Top: CoconutBottom: Beef Briyani

I really wanted to try the chicken briyani, but I was so out of it when I ordered that I got the beef one instead 😦 It was still good though! And the fresh coconut water was also a great thirst quencher.

I went to a shopping centre close to my hostel on the last day to try out the curry puffs, and saw Toast Box on the way. I couldn’t say no to one last piece of kaya toast, but these were super dry and yeh, tainted my memory a little unfortunately.

When my friend recommended Old Chang Kee to me I didn’t realise they would be a franchise, but turns out they originated back in 1956, and has since had its shopfronts sprawled all across Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and they even have a store in Perth out of all places in Australia!

Chilli Crab’O

The pastry of the curry puffs were perfectly flaky without being dry, and the chilli crab mixture consisted mainly of seafood sticks, and was a mellower version of other chilli crab dishes I tried.

Chicken and Mushroom’O

The chicken and mushroom filling reminded me of a pie, and was very creamy and subdued in comparison to the chill crab curry puff.

Nameless Restaurant #3

Roti Praha?

For my last meal, I asked for recommendations from the girl at the hostel, who was super friendly and nice throughout my entire stay. She told me to get the banana roti from this place “down the road”, so off I went. But I was told that they didn’t have time to make the banana roti or something? Since I was there already I just picked something else off the menu and took it back to the hostel to eat. The food was unmemorable, I just remember we kept on laughing at the most random things and before you know it, it was time for me to take a cab to the airport!

I took a subject this semester in uni that delved into Chinese settlers culture abroad, and we spent a lesson discussing Singaporean culture and lifestyle. Something that my lecturer said really stuck with me, “Singaporeans are very fluid in accepting other people’s cultures, and can blend in easily in any country. They don’t try to enforce their culture onto anyone else, with the exception of their food maybe.”

Singapore certainly left an impression on me, and I can’t wait to visit it again in the near future! On top of the amazing city itself, Changi Airport is perhaps the best airport I’ve ever been to, I might even purposely book flights that have a long layover time in Singapore just to explore haha!

Singaporean food is something that is not easily found in Melbourne, and it’s a cuisine that I didn’t know much about either, until I visited the country myself earlier this year. Though it was only a short trip, I managed to hit up a few restaurants, and hawker centres of course, where the real fun is. I had some of the most interesting and delicious food in Singapore, and have been craving it ever since. After some research, I came across Bert’s Cafe, a small family restaurant with a short, but promising menu.

Chwee Kueh (4 pcs) – $4.00

This is something that I didn’t see in Singapore, but my mum really wanted it haha. Chwee Kueh translates to steamed rice cake, and there was some fried preserved radish. The rice cake was soft and light, and the radish gave it some saltiness, as well as texture.

Fried Carrot Cake (White) – $6.50

This is probably one of the most iconic food to be found in hawker centres. When it was served I was a bit confused, where’s the carrot cake at?! All I see is a thick as omelette.

It didn’t take long for me to find the carrot cakes hiding beneath the egg though! The carrot cakes has a nice crispy exterior from being lightly pan fried, and the sauce on top was spicy and sweet, I wish there was more! I would come to Bert’s Cafe again and again just for the white carrot cake, it tasted very authentic.

Bak Chor Mee Pok – $9.00

Another dish that I have not tried before, I’m so adventurous I know LOL. Mee Pok is a dry noodle dish, it uses yellow thick-ish noodles, and is topped with fish balls, meat balls, pork mince and liver. The sauce that the noodle was tossed through was spicy, and I think there was some lard there too? Btw apparently Mee Pok is a dish that’s offered by very few restaurants in Melbourne ._.

Seafood Hor Fun – $9.00

I love me some good hor fun, and this was pretty alright. The flat rice noodles had some nice wok hei, and there was plenty of topping – fish cake, chicken, prawns, choy sum – and a creamy and aromatic egg sauce.

Bert’s Cafe may seem unassuming from the outside, in fact, you’ll never know it serves Singaporean food until you step inside, but it’s definitely a restaurant that I’ll return too, I’m so happy that I have found some good Singaporean food yay! Now time to hunt down a kopitiam for some kaya toast and half boiled eggs weeeeeeee.

How to get here:

Bert’s Cafe is located on Boronia Road, 5 minutes walk from Boronia Station.